The present invention relates to a fuse locking construction for a fuse box, in which especially, a miniature fuse can be mounted on and locked to the fuse box easily.
A number of fuses for electric devices are accommodated in a fuse box loaded on a motor vehicle, etc. As one example of such fuses, a fuse 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a rectangular base 2 made of synthetic resin, in which a fuse member 3a is insert molded. Furthermore, a pair of terminal plates 3b project out of a central portion of an underside of the base 2 from the fuse member 3a. Thus, the underside of the base 2 extends beyond the terminal plates 3b in lateral and longitudinal directions of the underside of the base 2.
The external shape of the fuse 1 varies according to allowable current. As shown in FIG. 3, a fuse box 4 includes a fuse mounting portion 4a in which a large fuse 1A is inserted so as to be locked and a plurality of fuse mounting portions 4b in each of which a miniature fuse 1B is inserted so as to be locked. The bases 2 of the miniature fuse 1B are so small as to have, for example, a height of 9 mm, a width of 11 mm and a thickness of 4 mm.
FIGS. 4 to 6 show in detail only the fuse mounting portion 4b in which the miniature fuse 1B is inserted so as to be locked. For the fuse mounting portion 4b, a pair of locking projections 4d are, respectively, provided at opposite ends of an insertion mouth 4c of the fuse box 4. When the miniature fuse 1B is inserted into the fuse mounting portion 4b, the locking projections 4d are depressed outwardly by the terminal plates 3b and the base 2 through deflection of opposed outer peripheral walls 4e. Meanwhile, when the miniature fuse 1B has been inserted into the fuse mounting portion 4b, the locking projections 4d retain opposite upper ends of the base 2, respectively by restoring force of the outer peripheral walls 4e so as to lock the miniature fuse 1B to the fuse mounting portion 4b.
However, since especially, the miniature fuse 1B is quite small, it is difficult to locate the fuse mounting portion 4b when the miniature fuse 1B is inserted into the fuse mounting portion 4b. Therefore, since it is extremely difficult to insert the terminal plates 3b into the fuse mounting portion 4b straightforwardly, such a case happens frequently in which the terminal plates 3b are inserted into the fuse mounting portion 4b obliquely, thereby resulting in poor working efficiency for inserting the miniature fuse 1B into the fuse mounting portion 4b. Moreover, for the same reason, such a drawback is incurred that working efficiency for drawing the miniature fuse 1B out of the fuse mounting portion 4b is also low.